2020 Agenda

Luxury Law Summit Americas 2020 – Virtual Event – 3rd December

This is a working agenda and subject to change.

08.45 EST

Welcome & Chair’s Opening Remarks

Chair: Barbara Kolsun, Director of the FAME Center and Professor of Practice at Benjamin N. Cardozo Law School and co editor of the 2020 first edition of The Business and Law of Fashion (Carolina Academic Press)

Moderator: Jacqui Harper, Crystal Business Coaching

08.55 EST

Fashion Inside Track: From Trade to Supply Chain – Challenges and Opportunities

Steve Lamar, President and CEO, American Apparel & Footwear Association

09.15 EST

Luxury Futures: Surviving in a Post-Pandemic world

Vanessa Friedman, Fashion Director and Chief Fashion Critic, The New York Times

A unique chance to gain insight into luxury fashion from one of the industry most-informed proponents.

09.45 EST

Panel: GC Talk

Moderator: Kelly Koyama-Garcia, SVP & GC, Louis Vuitton Americas

  • Akiko Okuma, VP, Secretary and General Counsel, Vince Holding Corp
  • Rachel Waranch, Managing  Counsel, Chanel
  • Ava Farshidi, Assistant General Counsel at David Yurman; Founder at Avocate

10.15 EST

Intermission

10.30 EST

Retail In LatAm – Trends and opportunities

Massimo Casagrande, Director of Education , Istituto Marangoni Miami 

10.45 EST

Pandemic Pivot: Designing PPE

Designers Anthony Galante and Chris Gelinas discuss navigating the world of design in a pandemic.

11.00 EST

The Future of Privacy and Personalisation in the Luxury Industry

How we can reconcile opposing drives to personalise luxury products and to protect consumers’ privacy.

Milton Pedraza, Founder, The Luxury Institute

11.25 EST

Workshops, choose one from the following:

Workshop #1

Strategies for the luxury sector in a time of crisis

This workshop will examine key challenges for the sector including finance, credit, default and other related issues luxury businesses should be thinking about in the current environment.

Erin Brady, Partner, Business Restructuring and Insolvency, Hogan Lovells

Federica Pietrogrande, Managing Director, Gordon Brothers

Hosted by Hogan Lovells

Workshop #2

Diversity and Inclusion – Key Takeaways for Brand Action and Accountabilities

In today’s climate of social, economic and cultural upheaval, consumers are demanding more transparency and accountability from their brands. Join McCarthy Tétrault in an interactive discussion to learn how to take a diversity and inclusion lens to your organization to:

– Enhance diversity and inclusion through change that is consistent with brand values

– Work with external service providers to bring about change in the profession

– Bring change to the community

  • Lara Nathans, Partner, National Retail and Consumer Markets Group Leader and the firm’s Industry Strategy Leader, McCarthy Tétrault
  • Miranda Lam, Partner, Retail Sector Lead and the firm’s National Gender Equality Chair, McCarthy Tétrault
  • Nikki Gershbain, Chief Inclusion Officer, McCarthy Tétrault

Hosted by McCarthy Tétrault

12.10 EST

Workshops, choose one from the following:

Workshop #1

Supply Chain Risk Management and What it Means under a Biden Administration

Baker McKenzie partners will address risk management in the supply chain with a focus on:

  • Supplier risk and relationship management
  • Growing risk under a democratic administration

–           Export controls and sanctions risks in the supply chain lifecycle, especially in the upstream supply chain

–           Responsible sourcing/ESG matters

–           Current and likely future corporate risk

International Commercial & Trade Practice Team:

Hosted by Baker McKenzie

Workshop #2

Learning Your ABC’S w/ Amazon & eBay: Authentication, Brands and Counterfeits

Representatives from Amazon and eBay will sit down in a Zoom-side chat with Epstein Drangel LLP’s Ashly Sands to discuss recent developments in counterfeit enforcement and authentication tools on their platforms with a focus on luxury.

Hosted by Epstein Drangel

12.50 EST

Lunch Intermission

13.20 EST

Fashion investment strategies and expectations in fashion, luxury and retail post-COVID

Rick Perkal, Managing Partner, Firelight Capital in conversation with Lee Sporn ,Of Counsel, Olsham Frome Wolosky LLP

13.40 EST

Upcycling Luxury Products: Permissible Recycling or Damaging Commercial Hitchhiking?

How can the luxury goods industry deal with upcycling of their products by commercial hitchhikers while allowing protected uses of their valuable intellectual property? Unfair competition, trademark and copyright law in the US provides some protections but are they sufficient? Is upcycling going to do damage to a luxury brand’s equity? Does the desire of the industry to reduce its environmental impact change the approach?

Tony Keats, Founding Partner, Keats Gatien

13.55 EST

GC Talk

Shane St. Hill, Global Director of Legal, Godiva Chocolatier

14.20 EST

Choose one from the following:

Stage 1:

A Tale of a City: Miami Transformed, Designing Luxury

Miami is becoming a new luxury hub, with international investors buying into the city from David Beckham & his football club to the Dior homme fashion show. How has this happened? What lessons can be learned and how does the future look?

  • Transforming Miami
  • The creation of the Design District
  • ‘Made in Italy’ residential apartments

Panel Chair: Massimo Casagrande, Director, Istituto Marangoni

Craig Robins, Founder and CEO of Dacra Development, the co-founder and co-owner of Design Miami and developer of the Miami Design District

Liam Stefanov, Developer, Fortune International Realty

Eva Hughes, Founder & CEO, Adira Consulting

Stage 2:

Luxury in LATAM: challenges and perspectives

Luxury in LATAM: challenges and perspectives panel will discuss the situation of luxury goods in Latin America and the difficulties brands may have at enforcing intellectual property rights on the region. Virginia Cervieri will give an introduction on the ways to enforce these rights and explain how the online commerce grew significantly due to the pandemic. Marie-Laure Bonnaffous, IP Manager at FENDI will speak about the brand’s experience and what updates we can expect from the firm. Finally, founder of Serrano Store Margarita Serrano, will give us an insight of how her brand started in Colombia and ended up becoming globally known.

Hosted by CM Cervieri

14.50 EST

Workshops, choose one from the following:

Workshop #1

#To Disclose or Not to Disclose

Like all brands, luxury brands rely on consumer reviews and have increasingly turned to celebrities – including social media “luxury lifestyle” influencers – to reach consumers through digital videos, Instagram stories, YouTube content and other social media posts and endorsements.  Bring your questions and join us to learn from those charged with enforcing truth in advertising how to solicit and aggregate reviews and when and how to disclose these influencer and other “material” relationships.

#ad#sponsored#gotthisforfree#brandambassador#Don’tMissThisSession with the Federal Trade Commission’s Serena Viswanathan, Acting Associate Director for Advertising Practices, Bureau of Consumer Protection and Laura Brett, Vice President and Director of the National Advertising Division / BBB National Program, moderated by Nancy Felsten, who chairs the nationally-recognized Advertising, Marketing and Promotions practice at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.

Hosted by Davis Wright Tremaine

Workshop #2

Luxury’s Litigation Landscape – What is current? And what is trending for next season?

Join Danielle Garno and Meredith Slawe, co-chairs of Cozen O’Connor’s Retail Industry Group and David Eshmoili, Deputy General Counsel & Corporate Secretary at David Yurman and Lorenzo Maria Di Vecchio, Head of Ethics & Compliance Global – Legal Affairs Director Italy at Christian Dior Couture as they discuss certain challenges the luxury sector has faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, including an increase in consumer class action activity, commercial litigation and regulatory enforcement. This panel will discuss recent cases and trends and the implications for luxury going into 2021 and beyond.

Hosted by Cozen O’Connor

15.30 EST

Intermission

15.45 EST

Inside: LVMH

Louise Firestone, SVP and General Counsel of LVMH North America is joined by members of the LVMH legal department to share insights on working for a global iconic luxury brand.

16.30 EST

Workshops, choose one from the following:

Workshop #1

Tailored Strategies to Protect Your Luxury Brand Business

Brands have never been more valuable, or more vulnerable. Global trade in a digital economy gives brands an unprecedented reach into virtually every market in the world but also creates risks to brand protection at a pace of change that has never existed before. Jeilah Y. Chan, Partner, Bennett Jones LLP will discuss intellectual property and brand protection strategies for luxury fashion with Sophie Marc, Partner, Santarelli IP.

Canadian Designer Bojana Sentaler from SENTALER will offer her perspectives on founding the now iconic luxury outerwear brand, and why SENTALER’s brand identity is so important to the company’s success.

Hosted by Bennett Jones

Workshop #2

Blockchain, AI and cloud: which of these emerging technologies will have the most significant impact on the luxury sector?

This panel session will explore the future of tech in the luxury sector, with a debate around whether brands should be focusing on blockchain, AI or cloud to enhance their business in a post-pandemic world.

Hosted by Bird & Bird

17.10 EST

Awards

Award announcements and interviews.

Award categories:

  • Luxury Corporate Counsel
  • Lifetime Achievement
  • Luxury Law Department
  • Luxury Rising Star
  • Luxury Leader

Networking and Virtual Drinks